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About the Role

This position is essential to the physical and emotional well-being of all pets at APA!, creating a healthy environment that aligns with APA!'s mission and resources. The Dog Care Program Manager leads and oversees the strategic direction, growth, and daily operations of APA!’s Dog Care, ensuring alignment with APA!’s broader mission to increase the live release rate across Texas, while building a sustainable, inclusive, and high-impact model for shelter operations. This leadership role is rooted in empowerment, facilitation, and values-driven oversight, with a focus on fostering positive collaboration across all departments, staff, and volunteers.

Responsibilities

Foster and model a volunteer-powered culture across the team by ensuring that every staff member is partnered with volunteers on every shift, with the goal of empowering volunteers to lead and grow within the program.
Serve as a facilitator and coach to staff and volunteers, ensuring the work is shared, not siloed, and that volunteers are supported in completing daily tasks.
Ensure active recruitment, onboarding, and engagement of volunteers using volunteer engagement tools and resources.
Support retention by matching volunteers to appropriate tasks, offering guidance, and providing regular check-ins and staff mentorship.
Identify strong volunteers for deeper roles and seek out customer to volunteer conversion opportunities.
Recognize volunteer contributions through consistent appreciation and shoutouts.
Provide clear expectations, hands-on training, and in-the-moment coaching to set volunteers up for success.
Inspire and guide Dog Care managers, staff, and volunteers to deliver compassionate, attentive, and personalized care that prioritizes each dog’s well-being and positive outcomes.
Manage staff and volunteer expectations to maintain a home-first value system based on the belief that a shelter does not replace a home.
Ensure every dog has a clean, comfortable environment, appropriate nutrition, medical and behavioral support, enrichment, and at least two documented outings each day.
Conduct daily rounds to review each dog’s well-being, care needs, placement barriers, and progress toward an outcome.
Ensure staff and volunteers document accurate daily observations and promptly escalate medical, behavioral, safety, or care concerns.
Design and implement sustainable workflows, SOPs, checklists, and communication systems to improve efficiency, accountability, and consistency.
Collaborate across divisions, especially with the behavior and placement teams, to ensure workflows support all departments.
Implement a volunteer-centric care model to ensure volunteers complete 50% of daily duties.
Complete and support Apatec training, and implement a program to train and track staff proficiency.
Partner with Customer Service, Behavior, Veterinary, Foster, and Adoption teams to remove placement barriers and prevent dogs from becoming stuck in the shelter.
Use care and outcome data to identify gaps, improve operations, and ensure timely follow-through.
Balance staff and volunteer responsibilities to meet care standards within the approved budget.
Manage department spending and supplies, maintaining efficient operations while meeting daily program needs.
Ensure adequate staffing, daily assignments, training, and coverage across operating hours.
Coach and support managers and staff, fostering a collaborative and inclusive environment where everyone is entrusted to deliver the highest standard of care.
Ensure dogs who need the most care receive it.
Respond to urgent operational and animal-welfare concerns and escalate significant risks to the Director of Strategic Customer Service.
Coordinate staff and volunteer scheduling with managers and volunteer supervisors.
Act as Manager on Duty at least 2 shifts per week.
Attend and participate in all required training sessions and meetings.
Use proper animal handling techniques to ensure everyone’s safety.
Pay close attention to the safety and security of all pets in care.
Be mindful of proper safety and security for the team.
Maintain good observations, medication, and tracking records.
Understand the importance of vaccination requirements.
Understand and be aware of potential parasites and how to prevent them.
Strong ability to recognize the symptoms of possible illnesses and diseases, accidents, or injuries.
Understand when to seek proper veterinary care.
Understand when to seek proper behavior care.
Capable of administering emergency first aid to an injured pet.
Maintain open and consistent communication with Director or designee and other colleagues.
Able to react to change productively and perform other related duties as assigned.
Demonstrate dependability, accountability, time management, use of reasoning, and good judgment skills.
Maintain open and consistent communication with Program Manager or designee, supervisor, and other colleagues.
Partner with Volunteer Managers to learn about the volunteer programs and manage volunteers interested in your department on an ongoing basis.
Able to work evenings, weekends, and holidays as needed.
Able to work in a high-volume, fast-paced, high-stress environment.

Requirements

At least four years of supervisory operations experience, including supervising managers or supervisors or volunteers, preferred.
Animal sheltering, kennel operations, boarding, veterinary, or dog-behavior experience strongly preferred.
Demonstrated ability to lead complex operations, simplify processes, use data, and hold teams accountable.
Experience working with volunteers and advocates, strongly preferred.
Strong communication, coaching, decision-making, and cross-departmental collaboration skills.
High level of communication and people skills required.
Value role in ensuring the safety of each other, the animals, and the community.
Willing and committed to working well with volunteers and staff in all roles.
Committed to embodying APA!’s Core Values: Innovation, Respect, Drive, Resourcefulness, and Inclusion and cultural values: Humble, Hungry, Smart.
Commitment to APA!'s customer experience expectations.
Passion for working well with staff, volunteers, and customers—helping all individuals feel successful, appreciated, and connected to APA!’s mission.
Strong commitment to volunteer engagement and support; dedicated to working well with volunteers across all roles.
Comfortable working cross-functionally and serving as a liaison between volunteers, customers, and team members.
Effective written and verbal communication skills; able to interpret rules, procedures, and instructional materials.
Self-starter with strong time management; able to work independently and collaboratively.
Excellent interpersonal skills; maintains a calm and professional presence in all situations.
Strong attention to detail and high standards for quality.
Adaptable to change and able to perform related duties as needed.
Dedicated to delivering an exceptional and inclusive customer experience.
Must be able to work around animals (including diseased, injured, and/or potentially aggressive animals), loud noises, chlorine or other chemicals, and inclement weather.
Must be able to comfortably interact with cats/dogs of various health levels, including pets who may carry zoonotic diseases such as ringworm, scabies, intestinal parasites, etc.
Must be able to walk big dogs that pull and jump.
Able to be on your feet for multiple hours of the day.
Must be able to visually observe people and animals from up to 150 feet away.
Ability to hear normal speech at close contact and shouting up to 150 feet away with the ability to hear and discern dog vocalizations both soft and loud.
Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk.
Must be able to focus in a loud and busy environment despite distractions.
Will sit, stand, walk, talk, hear, stoop, bend, stretch, squat, kneel, grasp, grip, put fingers together firmly and reach above and below shoulder level, lift and/or carry up to 30 pounds; flex the neck upward and downward; twist the neck and the waist.
If reasonable accommodations are requested, reasonable accommodations will be made to enable employees with disabilities to perform the essential functions of their job absent undue hardship to the organization.

Skills

Supervisory operations
Animal sheltering
Kennel operations
Boarding
Veterinary experience
Dog behavior experience
Complex operations leadership
Process simplification
Data utilization
Team accountability
Volunteer management
Advocate engagement
Communication
Coaching
Decision-making
Cross-departmental collaboration
People skills
Customer service
Written communication
Verbal communication
Time management
Interpersonal skills
Attention to detail
Adaptability
Animal handling
Safety and security
Record keeping
Vaccination requirements knowledge
Parasite prevention knowledge
Illness symptom recognition
Emergency first aid administration
Reasoning skills
Judgment skills

Location

Austin, TX

Work Type

Full-time
Exempt
Onsite

Experience Level

Supervisory
Management

Benefits

Subsidized employer-sponsored medical coverage
Subsidized and voluntary life insurance
Voluntary dental
Vision
Short-term disability options
Voluntary wellness plans
Emergency sick plans
Up to 2% match on 401(K) retirement plan
Supplemental benefits
Flexible spending accounts
Additional life coverage
10 paid holidays
10 days paid time off during the first year of employment
Additional 5 days of PTO accrual upon completion of 12 months of employment
Professional development opportunities

About the Company

Austin Pets Alive! (APA!) is one of Austin’s most dynamic and beloved nonprofits, leading the No Kill movement nationally and considered a national thought leader in animal welfare.
APA! locally rescues, treats, and adopts out 10,000 homeless dogs and cats each year, providing the safety net for Austin’s most at-risk shelter pets.
The organization is distinguished by its large volunteer workforce and the scrappiness of its grassroots and its non-traditional, community-based animal rescue work.
American Pets Alive!, APA!’s national division, offers resources and mentorship related to its lifesaving model.
In 2020, American Pets Alive! began the Human Animal Support Services (HASS) - an innovative initiative aimed at rethinking the traditional model of animal sheltering, focusing on supporting both people and pets in the community to reduce the number of animals entering shelters and improve outcomes.
The HASS project encourages collaboration between animal welfare organizations and community-based services, with a goal of providing personalized, proactive support that positions animal welfare as a social service.

Equal Opportunity

Austin Pets Alive! is an equal employment opportunity employer and values having staff who come from communities that are most impacted by the issues we engage on.
Encourages people of color, LGBTQ people, women, transgender and gender non-conforming people, and people with disabilities to apply.
Does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
Committed to creating a dynamic work environment that values diversity and inclusion, respect and integrity, community focus, and innovation.
Committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in the employment application process.